Got zinc?

[jls]

For a time now Ive heard that major oil manufs. have eliminated  zinc from their products. Ive always considered zinc to be essential in reducing wear in an engine. I'd like to know your take on this. I'd also like to know who still uses zinc in their formula.  Just wondering

[GatCat]

Amsoil sells a synthetic oil that has zinc. There is a brand that I have no experience with "Brad Penn" I believe, that has zinc. GM sells a zinc additive, I think. Comp Cams ( that makes aftermarket camshafts ) sells a zinc additive for "break-in" use.
I use the Amsoil in my Cummings.
From what I understand, the most critical engines that need zinc are the older pushrod engines that do not have roller lifters. The lack of zinc in the oil really wears the cam lobes.
I will pm you another web site that has a great deal of info on the subject.
Mark

[john keyes]

Every vehicle I drive has a flat tappet cam, chevy 3/4 ton pickup, F100 w/straight six, Bronco w/straight six, and just sold two chevy Novas which I had for years and years with engines going in and out spending a fortune at summit and jegs   

Now I fool with old trucks.

I will use the break in supplement on a new motor but thats it.  I don't run aggressive cam lobe profiles these days. I used to and I seriously believe the lifespan of the cam and lifters is going to be determined very quickly by the break in. I used to prime the carb and have the throttle screwed in  so it would immediately start and get up to 2500 rpm and stay there while I checked for leaks etc. 

I had some pretty aggressive cams as far as lift and duration and never did buy any zinc additive.

I can't fault some of the collector car and hotrod fanatics for using it because I can not tell them for sure that it is a waste of $$ but for myself I don't worry about it anymore. 

[jls]

Thanx fellas, Ive got a '97' F250 4x4, 460 ci.  that rolled over to 60,000 this month but bought it used when it had 28,00 on it. I figured anything I could do to protect from wear and tear couldn't hurt. Don't know how it was broke in but the old man I bought it from followed the maint. schedule to a T. Wrote every down that he did. Thought about using Rotella T but this needs further thought. Again, thanx!   

[Bugflipper]

I run early to mid 60's International Harvester scouts. Their engines are the same as in my IH tractors. I run rotella T in them. The 152 and 196 IH engines tend to go for 300-400k miles on road, which is unheard of for 1960's technology with 4.27 or 4.88 gears and a 1.0-1 top gear in a 3 spd manual. The engines are prone to gumming up with a poor head oil drain design. This leads to oil starved, tapping lifters then flat lobes on cams. When I get a new scout I scrape all the  sludge, run kerosene and atf fluid in the oil for a little while to thin out the sludge. Put in new lifters. Then put in rotella and no problems.

 If you run the normal low zinc oil in them they gum up again. It is hard to blow these engines. But you will ruin the cam, via the lifters which reduces the power of them. We used to run diesel oil in the old iron IH gas engines for the zinc. In 2007 they changed the chemical makeup and reduced zinc due to it clogging cats for diesel oils. Rotella also reduced it's zinc due to federal standards. But they made a new formula to combat the added friction the zinc reduction made. Sorry I am not as technical as most of the IH guys are on why or how. I just listen to sage advise and don't have problems out of my engines.
Good luck.

[GatCat]

Hey Bugflipper;
Just a thought on those 4 bangers you run. If you ever take a head off for machining, one thing that may help is to paint the top of the head ( not the block side, but the portion under the valve cover ) with a product ( I think by G.E., maybe not ), called gyptol, or some such. It dries very hard, and slick, and promotes oil drainback. It was originally used for coating electric motor housings. Some engine builders will use it to coat the valley area of V configured engines.
Mark

[Bugflipper]

Thanks Mark, will look into it. I have to pull the head on the main one I drive anyhow to match up the 392 exhaust manifold I built up then ported and polished over the winter.

[Rex in OTZ]

If your having sludge problems run some Seafoam or Marvel Mistery Oil to the oil sump to keep sludge accumulation down, have a ford that has sludge on the oil fill cap add some the additive the sludge is knocked right off.
In winter the sludge can build up enuf to restrict the crankcase breather and pressurize the crankcase and you get a decent drool going at the main seals.

[Buckskins & Black Powder]

rotella, valvoline, castrol will have zinc in their oil. Rotella i believe had the most as its mainly a diesel oil.

[Empty Quiver]

I'm going to suggest you stear clear of Diesel engine oil in a gasser. For some time they were interchangeable, those days are past.

Pour some 5W-30 Mobile one in it and be done worrying. Use either a NAPA gold filter, or a Purolator One filter. There are oils and filters that may be better, you can find any number that are worse.

Google: Bob's the oil guy. Enough oil obsessive cumpulsive types there to overbook a state hospital.

[Buckskins & Black Powder]

mobil is ok for new engines but the older ones dont use it. It greatly lacks zinc.

I didnt know this at time and ran it in a 71 buick skylark 350 and that suckers oil pressure dropped down to 5psi when it was hot. upper end started cackling as well and ended up having to put new rocker arm shafts on. Only a $50 fix but that sucked big time.